Seems to me that we must exert our imaginations about one aspect of the parable of the Lost Sheep in order to grasp the parable’s full significance.
The aspect I have in mind is the extreme contrast between the state in which the 99 sheep find themselves and the state of the one little lost sheep.
To a statistician or an economist, the parable might not make any sense at all. “Wait a minute. 99 on one side. One on the other. Take the 99 to the bank and be done with it.”
Could two more different men than Peter and Paul possibly be found? Yes, they were both Jewish males, born in the same decade. But any similarity ends there.
Paul was bookish; Peter was a man of the sea. Paul was a city-slicker, cosmopolitan, a Roman citizen; Peter came from the quiet seaside hills. If it weren’t for Christ, Peter probably never in his life would have left the shores of the Sea of Galilee. If it weren’t for Christ, Paul probably would never in his life have spoken with a single Galilean.
Come on, seventy degrees. Come on, baby. So close. Don’t be afraid. Come to papa!
…The Law of Moses bound the Chosen People to a weekly day of rest.
The Law of Death gave the human race rest from sin.
But this is the everlasting Sabbath: To believe in God and the One Whom He has sent…
…On the art beat:
“The Sacred Made Real” in the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art is NOT TO BE MISSED.
If you do not visit the National Gallery of Art between now and May 31, you will have MADE A BIG MISTAKE…
Opera buffs:
Did you know that Scott Joplin wrote an opera? It is called “Treemonisha.”
They performed it recently at the Atlas Theatre, in my humble Northeast Washington parish.
Here is some of the cast singing one of the ditties:
…St. Patrick’s day is great. But let’s face it. The big day of the week is Friday, the Solemnity of St. Joseph.
All the laws of penance and abstinence fall by the wayside in honor of the holy Patron of the whole Church. (Click HERE if you want to get siked-up for St. Joseph’s day.)
Don’t forget to recite the Act of Dedication to Christ the King today. Click here.
…
Behold, He is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see Him. (Revelation 1:7)
While we were in Israel, my fellow pilgrims and I saw many of the places and things referred to in the Bible. We saw the hometown of Jesus Christ, and the place where He was born. We saw the Sea of Galilee. We saw the Jordan River. We saw the desert where Christ was tempted by the devil. We saw the pathway on which He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. We saw the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Temple Mount and Mount Calvary. We saw the tomb where Christ’s body lay.
Justly you would not allow her to see the corruption of the tomb,
because from her own flesh she brought forth ineffably your incarnate Son, the author of all life.
–from the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer in today’s Mass
Our little study of Bertrand Russell’s erroneous philosophy is now catalogued the among the Compendia.
We undertook our consideration of the Bertrand Russell Case as a penitential preparation for today’s Solemnity.
It is not reasonable to think that there is no life after death. The argument that the soul is immortal is more probable: No observable force of nature can annihilate a soul.
Moreover, we have it on divine authority that our Lord Jesus rose from the dead in His human body, and He took His mother with Him to heaven.
Happy Assumption Day!
…Ego … Archiepiscopus … beato Petro apostolo, Sanctæ, Apostolicæ, Romanæ Ecclesiæ, ac tibi, Summo Pontifici, tuisque legitimis Successoribus semper fidelis ero et oboediens. Ita me Deus omnipotens adiuvet.
“I …, Archbishop of …, swear to be faithful and obedient to St. Peter the Apostle, to the Holy Roman Church, and to you, the Supreme Pontiff, and your lawful successors, so help me God Almighty.”
The new Archbishops who celebrated Mass with the Holy Father today swore their allegiance with these words.
The Archbishops’ oath of allegiance is not something strange. It is not something foreign to American sensibilities. It is the most commonsensical statement a person could ever make.
Christians believe things–and we live according to principles–which we could never figure out by ourselves.
Therefore we rely on some source of information that possesses infallible authority. Our faith and morals are based on the testimony of God Himself, delivered to us in writing and by word of mouth.
Now, the authority to give this testimony either resides in me myself, or it resides in someone else.
Some people actually do regard themselves as their own infallible religious authority. But it takes just a little humility and maturity to realize that being your own infallible teacher is a prescription for disaster.
Therefore my infallible teacher must be someone else.
Who is it? Could it be a politician? Could it be the pastor of a megachurch? Shirley MacLaine?
Of all the candidates for infallible teacher, the only really viable one is the Pope. The Pope can claim to hold such an office–the office of infallible teacher and shepherd established by the Son of God when He was on earth.
The Lord Jesus never promised that every Pope would be a saint. Rather, He guaranteed that there would be a spiritual fortress which the enemies of God could never conquer. Within this fortress, the true faith will always survive. The fortress is the Apostolic See of Rome.
Someone might say: Back off! My infallible teacher is the Bible!
Two questions, dear friend:
1. How do you know that the Bible is the Bible (i.e. the compendium of divine teachings committed to writing)? How do you know that the Koran is NOT the Bible? Or Football for Dummies? What authority certifies that your Bible is, in fact, God’s Word?
2. If there is a dispute about what the Bible means, who has the authority to settle the question?
Answer:
and his successors.
Happy Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, founders of the Church of Rome!
Are there any P.G., Anne Arundel, Calvert, or Montgomery County homies who can answer this classic rap satire?
My favorite part is the way he reacts to the prospect of riding the Green Line…
…Feast of Corpus Christi!
Here is a homily about the presence of God…
I am not trying to criticize anyone. But, back when I was a layman, I heard a lot of lame homilies on Trinity Sunday. Who knows? Perhaps by the time we are done here, you will be saying the same thing.
The thing that annoyed me was when the preacher would begin his Trinity Sunday homily by saying something like: “The Trinity is such a mind-boggling, impossible mystery, I simply cannot begin to explain it.” Then he tells you the story about St. Augustine trying to write a book about the Trinity, and the little boy by the sea, and putting all the ocean into one little hole, etc. Okay, okay—we get it. The Trinity is a mystery which surpasses our understanding.
The reason this annoyed me is: The best possible explanation of the mystery of the Holy Trinity is right in front of our noses. The Mass explains the Holy Trinity perfectly. The Holy Trinity is not abstruse, not remote, not unfamiliar. There is, in fact, nothing more familiar than the Trinity for people who go to Mass. Let me explain.
A question has vexed Christian minds ever since the coming of Christ into the world. The Apostles themselves struggled with this question, as we can see in the pages of the New Testament. As we begin a new year, it is a question for us, too: Now that the New and eternal Covenant has been established, why does history continue as it did before?
Many of the early Christians assumed that the Lord would return in glory during their earthly lifetimes. But He did not. At the turning of the first millennium, many, many Christians thought history would end. But it did not. At the turning of the second millennium, most of us were worried about our computers. History did not end. It continues apace. Why?
Let us recall the reality at the heart of history. Our First Parents were established in peace, happiness, and the prospect of everlasting friendship with God. They sinned, and history began at odds with the Creator: out of harmony, marred by evil.
This raises the question: What do we owe the saints?
They of course do not need anything from us. That is the whole point of it: The saints are done with needing things. They are in the state of enjoying–enjoying eternal life with God.
For our sakes, we owe the saints praise, admiration, reverence, and imitation. Their memory is fully alive in heaven; we owe it to ourselves to keep their memory alive here on earth.
Today’s feast provides a good occasion for friendly ecumenical reflection. Protestants have charged the Catholic Church with neglecting God by worshiping the saints.
Let us Catholics freely express regret, though, for any instances of ignoring God for the sake of saints. Shouldn’t happen. God is God. God alone deserves our highest praise, adoration, and submission. There is no doubt that our dear Protestant brothers and sisters are right to insist on this point.
On the other hand, we Catholics have something to say to our Protestant friends, too. Face it, people: We owe the saints. We owe them some serious props. For our sakes, we owe them liturgical acknowledgement (i.e., prayers).
How, dear Protestant brethren, can you so shamelessly neglect to keep the saints’ feast days? They are up in heaven praying for all of us and winning graces for all of us–and you ignore them? Not nice.
Let us, then, keep All Saints Day by loving the saints all the more and praising them all the more. We need to make up for all our good Christian brothers and sisters who neglect to keep the saints’ feast days.
Father Mark White Blog 